The night sky was dark and filled with stars almost immediately after dinner when we were all expected to report to the itch for detention. Draco and I had decided to wear our actual Quidditch uniforms for the sake of staying warm and nimble while we flew around repairing damages to goal posts and the ground.
He had thrown his arm around me while we walked down with our brooms strapped to our backs, but this time it was a welcome embrace. I leaned into him as we both fought not to slip on the dark and steep pathway.
"This is preposterous, why don't we just fly?" he moaned, almost losing his balance altogether on an ice patch, pulling me down with him. "Neither of us need this ludicrous exercise." The bruise on his face had considerably darkened to a horrible medley of purples and yellows, and the white of his eye had a sickly red hue. The hit must have been unbelievably painful.
"I quite like de walk, et es a good warm up and a good time to mentally prepare," I said lightheartedly and he laughed in disagreement.
"More like an opportune method to injure oneself before a game." He slipped a second, then immediately third time and cursed under his breath. "I'd rather swim with a grindylow than walk this entire distance."
"Pfft, who says a grindylow would want to swim wit' you," I bantered and he shook his head, looking away. "What 'appened to your face, Draco?" I was hoping he would at least explain the situation considering I was now involved with the detention.
He sighed and I could hear the irritation laced in his throat, "I found Diggory in the courtyard. We fought, and a bunch of idiotic Gryffindor's involved themselves. I doubt we'll be out here long given how many people are in detention." I looked up at his face, surprised that he was the type to get into physical altercations. He'd always pegged me as more of a sneaky enemy.
He seemed to read my thoughts as he peered down at me, "I didn't intend to fight him in that way, it just happened. Quit judging my face."
"I'm not judging your face," I replied, but an amused grin was spreading across mine as I realized he was vainly embarrassed in my presence.
His expression read that he didn't believe me as he stared carefully at where he was placing his feet, "Yeah. I lost something...quite important to me recently. It would've been really helpful."
Oh god, the map, I thought guiltily in my head.
His eyes lingered slyly on the white gloves I was wearing, "These look good on you. You're my little Quidditch queen." He ruffled my hair with his matching glove teasingly and I pushed away from him, fixing my now frazzled braids.
"Okay but seriously I'm not walking the whole way down," he repeated.
I gave up the battle, sick of his classic whining, "Fine." I ripped my broom off of my back and flew towards the pitch, thoroughly enjoying the idea that I would get to practice with the white magnetic gloves.
"Hey!" I heard him cry in outrage before he was following me down in the same way.
My hands were glued to the broom comfortably in a way I had never experienced before. I had complete control over the way the broom maneuvered, but could easily unlock my hands in a similar fashion to clip-ins on a bicycle; simply one had to twist the gloves in a specific click away from the handle and the magnets freed their grasp.
The pitch was lit by hundreds of glowing orbs that someone had cast to allow work to ensue in the darkness. Madame Hootch stood in the center of the pitch scolding several other figures while they waited for us to arrive. I landed in a run and lined myself up with the others, noticing that beside Cedric there was also the Weasley twins and Harry Potter scowling in the cold breeze.
"What are you doing here?" Cedric leaned towards me and I realized standing next to him was a mistake, but my options had been precarious. It was either Harry Potter or Cedric Diggory. All four of their faces were marked and bruised and I wondered how ugly the fight had been; Draco surely hadn't done that much damage to four boys on his own.
I looked rudely away from Cedric as Draco stood closely on my other side, attentively watching.
Madame Hootch put her hands on her hips, "Now you lot of trouble makers, I want a perfect pitch for the morning. You have the Gryffindor's to thank for most of these holes from the previous game. Don't take all night, I don't want to be freezing in those stands for more than an hour." She clapped her gloved hands before her and we all sort of milled around, assessing the damages to the bleachers, sod and flagged posts.
Harry walked up to me as I was repairing torn grass patches not far from the original meeting area while the twins argued over who had put certain holes in what. "What are you doing here Madeleine?" he asked quietly, waving his wand over the grass as if he was helping. He didn't seem to have a strong touch in Herbological magic as the grass that sprouted where he pointed was far too high and unkempt. I had to keep correcting his work as he followed me around.
I frowned, "I was caught out of bed after curfew." The other boys had all taken off into the sky as I had expected them to, leaving me to tend with the lawn below and Harry of his own accord.
"Why?" Harry pressed on, and I had to push his arm down from where he'd just sprouted decorative grass that certainly did not belong along a massive muddy scar in the earth.
I lied instinctively, "I wanted to think about things, and I didn't realize de time." The wind was biting and raw on my ears and I pulled my green hood over my head.
"Think about things in the potions classroom?" his eyes brightened at me and I knew I'd been caught. He had the map, he'd have seen both of our names huddled in the room.
The most horrifically awkward silence followed his accusation as I froze with anxiety. I could feel my heart in my chest, wishing he would just mind his own business. He just kept staring at me with his dark hair waving around his face and spectacles.
"Keep it moving you two!" Hootch hollered from the low Ravenclaw stand that she was bundled up in, "Potter, if you're going to do grass I'd suggest you take a hint from Madeleine. This is not a garden!"
Harry stepped close to me, pretending uselessly that he was still repairing sod, "Madeleine, what is Malfoy doing with you? He seems to be with you constantly, even at odd hours and privately. Are you sure you're okay?" He was being protective, I could hear it in his tone and see it in his eyes. His pride regarding being the school hero was obviously too much for him to bare the idea that someone needed his help.
There was a whoosh above us and we both turned to look up into the sky where Draco was twirling his wand meters above us, "What's it to you what I do with my girlfriend, scarface?"
Harry stiffened into granite, "Because she's not your girlfriend Malfoy, you disgusting, abusive, pathetic-"
Draco roared back over Harry's insulting shouting, both of them screaming at each other at once. His wand was pointing down at Harry, probably by an accident as he was already holding it to repair the pitch, but it certainly appeared threatening. "You're the very definition of pathetic, Potter! Why don't you -"
"Enough!" A booming voice echoed over the pitch. Dumbledore had decided to make a rare appearance, standing like a ghost at the entrance to the pitch with his wand to his throat. His signature gray and pastel mauve robes billowed in the wind around his silhouette in the shadows.
We all stared wide eyed. Fred and George had been tangled up in the air on their broomsticks doing god knew what. One of their wands dropped like an icicle and stood upright in the grass at a random angle. It had already been an absurd and poorly organized form of detention to begin with.
It was a long minute as the elderly headmaster walked with grace and nobility across the massive oval. His eyes drifted listlessly to Draco's floating form for a moment as if with curiosity, then he landed on me and Harry standing not feet apart. His voice was dark and smooth, "I do hope I'm not excusing students too early from what I'm sure is a fruitful detention, but I will require both Madeleine and Harry to come with me. Now."
His wrinkled hand shot out, palm upwards without shaking. Madam Hootch had jumped over the barrier as he'd approached and her neon yellow eyes flitted between the two of us, "Whatever it is you need Dumbledore, I'm sure it's more important than this. Take them, I'll inform their house heads."
Harry nodded at me and an overwhelming sense of dread spread down my spine. With trembling fingers I closed my fingers around the headmaster's arm and we reappeared in a room I had never been in before.
It was ornate and heavily decorated with thousands of random items. A large desk sat in the centre of the room, flanked by stairs on either side that led up to an apparent library of sorts. A birds cage was balanced on the edge of the desk with a Phoenix resting inside, basking in the warmth of a heat lamp. Dozens of portraits on the walls peaked down at us from where they were perched.
"I apologize for the reckless intrusion on your scheduled detention," Dumbledore drawled while running his wrinkled fingers over his desk. His long white beard was tied by a band, low on his chest. He flitted wise and kind blue eyes over us both as he wandered behind the table. My heart was pounding in his commanding presence.
Harry laughed gently, obviously more accustomed to the headmaster's company, "Honestly no offence taken, professor. It wasn't exactly ideal."
Dumbledore sat and gestured for us to join him at the desk at opposing seats. We obliged, and he leaned back far back into his magnificent chair. His aged eyes landed on me with an interactive flare, "Madeleine, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. Harry has told me much of your time here at Hogwarts. I do hope despite recent events pertaining to your engagement with Draco Malfoy that you've found it otherwise enlightening." He held his gaze on me and I instantly felt like I might faint.
I squirmed in my chair, darting my eyes between the headmaster and Harry who both seemed perfectly calm. "Oui, et 'as been interesting 'ere," I weakly replied.
Dumbledore clasped his hands on the table, "Well I wish I could say that the reasoning for this acquaintance was less austere, but frankly I've been made aware of some very concerning premonitions. My good friend and your Divination professor, Sybil Trelawney, has informed that she harbours grave concerns for your future, Madeleine. And your peer here, Mr. Potter, has also expressed similar worries. Please, entertain us with anything you would like to share in this safe space." He then waited, collective and patient.
I gasped, my face searched back and forth between them. There was very little that I felt would be safe to explain about my current situation. "I don' quite comprehend what et es you are asking me to explain, professor," I stumbled out awkwardly.
Harry's green eyes were trained on me seriously, "You could start with how Malfoy is forcing you to marry him. Or how his family is Death Eaters."
His accusations were shocking in the presence of the headmaster, and I found myself staring back at him with wide eyes. Finally I plucked up the nerve to find my voice, "I 'ave nothing to say about dat."
Dumbledore looked between us briefly before carefully proceeding, "Madeleine, whether or not you are aware of the nature of the Malfoy family yet, you may eventually find yourself in the center of a contradicting universe. There are dark times brooding on the horizon."
"Tell him, tell him that they are Death Eaters," Harry brutally shouted at me, nearly cutting off the professor in the process.
I gave him an appalled glance. I could never reveal that the Malfoy's were Death Eaters, how on earth he thought I could state that to Dumbledore was beyond me. "I am perfectly aware of de nature of de Malfoy's," I offered cryptically.
Dumbledore took it upon himself to open a drawer in his desk and placed a misty glass orb on the table between us. It spun with a ribbed noise against the wood grains of the desk and we all watched in awe as it released the sounds of a girl screaming. The orb blackened, the clouds within it darkening dangerously. A sickened, insidious tone took over and images of myself shrieking with rage and black, unrecognizable eyes and icy white hair revolved in the glass. My hair was standing up off of my shoulders electrically and I looked positively venomous. Black flames were engulfing my entire body.
My hand flew to my mouth in disbelief, "What es dis?"
Dumbledore closed his large hand around the orb, stopping it in it's twirl. He returned it to the drawer and quickly shut it, "While we can never be certain of such prophecies, Madeleine, this one in particular is quite suggestive." The bags below his eyes appeared particularly pronounced as he raised his eyebrows at me.
I faltered, speechless at the prophecy in question. "I-I am not evil," I repeated the same thing I had said to Trelawney prior.
"Oh, by no means was I suggesting such a thing," Dumbledore added kindly, "Whatever this prophecy is suggesting does not need to be interpreted negatively. Sometimes, the only way to navigate the darkness is to blend in with it."
Harry noticeably stiffened next to me, and I could tell from his modified posture that he was irate. "Professor, this needs to be stopped. Clearly the Malfoy's will ruin her! She isn't safe!" He looked at me with his round spectacles in protest and I grimaced.
Dumbledore drummed his fingers on the table in contemplation. His gaze never left my face as if Harry wasn't there at all. "Madeleine, the Malfoy boy who you are so desperately entangled with is on a dark path. He is a tad more Machiavellian than he appears, and he must not be misrepresented in your thoughts as an innocent being. There will come a time when you need to draw on your influence and guide him in the right direction; the fate of the wizarding world could hinge on you providing exceptional sacrifice." He let the words hang in the air and I stared down at my Quidditch robes in horror. What had been shown on that crystal ball had been nothing short of highly disturbing, and I had no intentions of warping into that sadistic version of myself.
Harry abruptly stood from his chair, knocking over the wooden structure in force, "This wedding has to be stopped! She can't end up like that!" His finger pointed towards the desk with insinuation.
Dumbledore blankly looked up at the distressed boy as though he were being irrational, "Harry, Madeleine's place beside Draco is one of great importance. Without her, he will no doubt become a much more sinister opponent."
Harry obnoxiously groaned, "Rubbish! You can't be serious! Why are we even allowing him to become an opponent when we can just out the Malfoy's as being Death Eaters and send them to Azkaban?"
I sat, twisting my green robes in my fingers and avoided looking at either of them. It was undoubtedly a very nerve racking situation and I was struggling to maintain a regular heartbeat. It was silent for far too long save for Harry's aggressive breathing next to me.
"What I find most interesting about this is Madeleine's willing loyalty," Dumbledore stated point blank. I could sense his eyes burning into me. "Even now, with the opportunity to deface the Malfoy's, she sits silently before us. We should heed this reaction keenly, Harry, and not meddle with what is not broken."
"She's terrified!" Harry argued back in outrage, speaking as though I wasn't in the room.
My head shot up to see that Dumbledore had a knowing expression on his elderly face. He could tell somehow that I was in love with Draco, and his words from before echoed in my mind. Except he was wrong; I couldn't guide Draco in any way at all. He was wildly independent and would never listen to me if I attempted to alter any course that he was on.
I stood shakily, "May I leave?" I asked in a tiny voice.
Dumbledore gestured to the doorway of his office, "By all means. This is by no standard a prison."
"No Madeleine, please tell us that you're not safe with Draco. We can help you," Harry asserted, grabbing my elbow to slow me down.
I was now beginning to feel immense irritation with his persistence. I ripped my arm out his grasp, "I am fine, 'arry." I walked rapidly to the door, leaving them to finish their discussion together.